WELLS FARGO JAZZ 99 LUCINDA WILLIAMS TD Arena at College of Charleston June 4 at 8:00pm SPONSORED BY WELLS FARGO Lucinda Williams, voice, guitar Stuart Mathis, guitar David Sutton, bass Butch Norton, drums and percussion ARTIST Over the course of a recording career father Miller Williams, who invested her with a “culturally rich, that is now in its fourth decade, but economically poor” upbringing where artistic expression Louisiana-born singer Lucinda Williams was of primary importance. Later, she would hone her vision has navigated terrain as varied as the playing hardscrabble clubs around the South and everywhere dust-bowl starkness of her 1978 debut from New York City to Los Angeles, absorbing the influence of Ramblin’, recorded on the fly with a sources as varied as Bob Dylan and Lightnin’ Hopkins. mere 250-dollar budget behind her, and “I sometimes say I just started out singing folk songs the recently reissued 1988 recording of acoustically by default,” Williams said. “Even when I was the Grammy-winning song “Passionate playing open mic nights by myself, I’d be sitting up on stage with Kisses.” Her next album, Sweet Old my Martin guitar doing 'Angel' by Jimi Hendrix or 'Politician' by World (1992), continued to raise her profile, but it would be six Cream alongside Robert Johnson and Memphis Minnie songs. years until the release of her breakthrough classic Car Wheels It never occurred to me to pick just one style. The one thing On A Gravel Road. She continued to blaze new trails with such the songs have in common is directness. The beauty of country albums as Essence (2001), World Without Tears (2003), and and blues is their simplicity; it’s about getting things across in a West (2007), which Vanity Fair called “the record of a lifetime.” really direct way. I’ve spent a while stretching out and going in The slightly more upbeat Little Honey was released in 2009, different directions, which is my nature.” followed by the stunning and powerful Blessed in 2011. Williams has always been adept at painting landscapes of the Between those signposts, Williams established a reputation soul, illuminating the spirit’s shadowy nooks and shimmering as one of rock’s most uncompromising and consistently crannies. This is never more evident than in live performance fascinating writers and performers, earning kudos from artists where she weaves together each show from the well of her as diverse as Mary Chapin Carpenter, who helped win Williams breathtaking catalog, every show different from the one before, a Grammy with her recording of “Passionate Kisses,” and Elvis as if each one was a new collection of a master writer’s stories. It Costello who joined her for a duet on the Little Honey mini- is then that you truly understand the depth of Lucinda Williams’ drama Jailhouse Tears. Williams learned the importance of artistry. professional integrity around the same time most kids learn their ABCs, thanks in a large part to her award-winning poet This performance is made possible in part through funds from the Spoleto Festival USA Endowment, generously supported by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America..